Odyssey of Apollo 13 Became NASA's 'Successful Failure'

Crew of Apollo 13 the day before launch at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The odyssey of NASA's Apollo 13 lifted-off fifty-years ago on Saturday to begin the third crewed mission to land on the Moon but quickly became a mission of survival in deep space.

The flight of Apollo 13 has been called “a successful failure”. It was successful in how the crew worked with mission control to return home, but a failure in that the lunar landing was aborted.

A veteran of three previous spaceflights, James (Jim) Lovell commanded the flight. Command Module pilot John (Jack) Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise, both rookie astronauts, rounded out the crew.